Aerosol valve actuator and dispensing button



Oct. 22,1968 P.M.KOTUBY 3,406,873

AEROSOL VALVE ACTUATOR AND DISPENSING BUTTON Filed April 5, 1966 0 W I III INVENTOR.

BY www w A 7' TORNE K5 '4 6 PAUL M. KOTUBY United States Patent 3,406,878 AEROSOL VALVE ACTUATOR AND DISPENSING BUTTON Paul M. Kotuby, Naugatuck, Conn., as'signor to The Risdon Manufacturing Company, Naugatuck, Conm', a

corporation of Connecticut Filed Apr. 5, 1966, Ser. No. 540,400

' 4 Claims. (Cl. ZZZ-402.1)

provided in the button. The' button is formed of molded plastic and is provided with a stem-receiving socket, the inner portion of which has a shoulder for abutment against the end of the'valve stem, and an immediately 'adjacent'socket wall area which forms an interference fit peripherally about the end of the valve stem to form a fluid tight junction. Axially outwardly of the peripheral sealing area of the socket in the button, the socket wall is formed to provide circumferentially spaced contact areas of narrow width extending axially of the'socket wall integrally therewith to provide limited frictional engagement with the valve stem, whereby to effect-nonpositive e'ngagementofthe' actuator on the stern during preliminary assembly of the parts to prevent inadvertent actuation "of thevalve, yet sufiicient to retain the parts in assembled condition.

The invention herein described pertains to a combined aerosol valve actuator and dispensing button for use with a dispensing valve of the type commonly employed in aerosol or self-pressurized dispensing containers, wherein the valve is operated by finger pressure applied to the actuator to release product-from the container through a discharge orifice-in the actuator. Examples of aerosol pensers, one of the operations involved is that of assembling the actuator to the stem of the valve after the container has been filled and pressurized. This assembly operation may be done either by hand or by automated machinery. In either event, it is highly desirable, in fact essential, that actuation of the valve itself be avoided during the assembly operation in order that none "of the product be accidentally discharged. A

It is conventional in the art to form the actuator of molded plastic to provide a main body portion having a stem-receiving socket on its under surface and a discharge port adjacent its upper surface, with passage means in the body communicating the interior of the socket with the discharge port. The typical valve stem of an aerosol valve is a hollow tube, and the socket of the actuator is designed to telescopingly receive this stem to make communication with the passage leading to the discharge port. The actuator button is generally formed with an upper surface adapted to facilitate finger depression of the actuator and hence opening of the valve when product is to be dispensed from the container. It is apparent, therefore, that during the assembly of the actuator to the valve stem in preparing the aerosol package for market, it is relatively easy to cause inadvertent actuation of the valve and unwanted dispensing of the pressurized product from the container, bearing in mind that packaging operations involve handling many thousands of containers at a very high rate of speed.

It is accordingly a primary purpose of the present invention to minimize inadvertent actuation of a typical aerosol valve when assembling an actuator button to the valve stem. r

In brief, the present invention comprehends an actuator button having a stem-receiving socket so formed as to limit or reduce frictional engagement between the wall of the socket and valve stem during at least the initial engagement of the two, whereby to minimize inadvertent actuation of the valve during assembly of the button or actuator to the valve stem but at the same time to'pro vide suflicient engagement of the actuator with the stem to retain the parts in assembled condition under normal shipping and 'handlingof the aerosol package.

The invention is illustrated bythe embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings and described in detail hereinafter.

In the'drawings,

FIG. 1 is a sectional view in side elevation of one form of the aerosol valve actuator of the present invention, the section being taken on line 1-1 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a plan view from the underside of the actuator in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view on enlarged scale, in section on a central vertical plane through the actuator, showing the upper end of an aerosol valve stem received in the socket of the actuator;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view in side elevation of a different form of the invention, the section being taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the underside of the actuator of FIG. 4; and a FIG. '6 is a fragmentary view in side elevation, certain parts being shown in section, of the valve stem of a typical aerosol valve received in the socket of the actuator of FIG. 4.

Referring to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1-3, actuator 10 is formed of molded plastic and comprises a main body portion 12 having a valve stem receiving socket 14 formed in its underside, and having a discharge port 16 adjacent its upper surface. The interior of socket 14 is communicated with discharge port 16 by passage means 18 formed in the body of the actuator 10.

Socket 14 is formed to receive and frictionally engage the upper end of a hollow stem 20 (FIG. 3) of a typical aerosol valve which is actuated to dispense a product enclosed in a typical aerosol container, not shown, of which the valve assembly forms apart. Actuation of' the valve is effected either by vertical reciprocation axially of the valve stem, or by lateral tilting of it, through finger pressure applied to the head of actuator 10, as for example to the finger depression 22, whereby to effect dispensing of the product through the hollow valve stem and out through discharge port 16 by means of communicating passage 18. A stop shoulder 24 is formed at the inner end of the socket 14 in the actuator to provide a positive abutment against which the upper end of valve stem 20 engages when fully inserted in the socket.

As previously mentioned, it is the purpose of this invention to so form the socket wall outwardly of said shoulder 24 as to effect limited, resilient restriction to the insertion of the valve stem therein for purposes of preliminary assembly of the actuator to the valve stem, without inadvertently causing actuation of the valve and release of the fluid product from the aerosol package. To this end, socket 14 is formed with a second shoulder 25 below which the wall is a right cylindrical polygon of such size that its sides are tangential to the inserted stem 14. Above shoulder 25, the socket is circular in section, the diameter of this upper portion being such as to receive the stem 14 when fully engaged to make a peripheral seal about the stem at its upper end.

Preliminary assembly of the actuator to the valve stem is illustrated by FIG. 3, wherein it is shown how limited frictional engagement between the periphery of stem 20 at its upper end and the adjacent polygonal wall of socket 14 is achieved at circumferentially spaced contact areas of narrow width extending axially of the socket prior to the seating of the actuator fully on the stem, i.e. prior to arrival of the upper end of the stem opposite shoulder 25. Such non-positive engagement of the actuator on the stem prevents inadvertent actuation of the, valves during application of the button, yet sufiicient frictional engagement is obtained to prevent the button from dropping off if the container is inverted.

Upon the first actuation of the valve, by pressing on button to forciblydepress stem to fully open the valve, the resistance to such actuator then becomes sufficient to force the button to fully seated position, with shoulder 24 abutting against the end of stem 20, and the upper end of the stem sealing peripherally with the inner cylindrical portion of the socket.

A modified construction is shown in FIGS. 4-6 wherein actuator is generally similar to that of FIGS. 13

except for the wall configuration of the stem-receiving socket. As seen in FIGS. 4-6, the actuator has a main body 32, a socket 3 4, a discharge orifice 36 and a communicating passage 38. Socket 34 in this instance is generally right-cylindrical in form but is provided with a plurality, three in number here being shown, of relatively narrow, low or shallow ribs 35 spaced circumferentially about the wall and extending generally longitudinally of the lower portion of the socket. The diameter of the imaginary circle tangent to ribs 35 at their crests, as viewed in FIG. 5, is made just slightly smaller than that of the normal diameter of the valve stem to be received in the socket. The difference in diameters is of the same order as that employed heretofore in a button having a conventional smooth bore in its stem-receiving socket. However, by reason of the provision of the ribs, the area of frictional engagement with the valve stem is substantially reduced. Thus, the fitting of such a button to the stern greatly reduces the likelihood of inadvertent actuation of the valve during assembly of the button to the stem.

As viewed in FIG. 6, stem 20 is fully seated in its socket, with the upper end in abutment with shoulder 44 and the inner right-cylindrical wall portion 45 making a close peripheral seal with the upper end of the stem.

The order of dimensional difference between effective socket diameter and outside diameter of the valve stem in all cases is best illustrated by description of a typical commercial situation. For a standard one-eighth inch valve 4 stem, having a diameter of 0125:0001 inch, the effective socket diameter should be 0119:0002 inch. This represents an interference fit of valve stem and socket of from about 3% to 7% based on the stem diameter, which has been found in practice to give the desired result. 1

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the common characteristic of actuator buttons of this invention which distinguishes them from the prior buttons is that the wall of the socket in thebutton is so formed as to provide stem-gripping areas substantially smaller in extent than the total peripheral area of the portion of the valve stem enclosed by the socket. In both of the modifications illustrated, the initial engagement is effected along a small plurality of lines of contact spaced about and extending along the axis of the socket adjacent its open end.

What is claimed is: 1. In a valve actuator and dispensing button for attachment to the stem of an aerosol valve, said actuator being formed of molded plastic and comprising a main body portion having a valve stem receiving socket on its under surface, a discharge port adjacent its upper surfaceand passage means communicating the interior of the socket with said discharge port, the improvement which consists in said socket having at its inner end a stop shoulder for positive limitation of the insertion of a valve stem therein, with the wall of said socket outwardly of said shoulder being formed to provide circumferentially spaced contact areas of narrow width extending axially of the socket wall and formed integrally therewith.

2. The improvement in an aerosol valve actuator as defined in claim 1, wherein said socket has an interior wall surface adjacent said shoulder which is of rightcylindrical shape and size to engage and form a continuous peripheral seal with the stem, and other interior wall surfaces adjacent the open end of said socket which are tangent to the stem only at said circumferentially spaced contact areas.

3. The improvement in an aerosol valve actuator as defined in claim 2, wherein said other wall surfaces form a right cylindrical polygon.

4. The improvement in an aerosol valve actuator as defined in claim 2, wherein said contact areas are relatively narrow, low ribs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1965 Eberlein 222-'402 6/1966 Seaquist 222-402.13

FOREIGN, PATENTS Sweden. 

